This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Saturday, 28 November 2009

The Story of Onan

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In
the Book of Genesis, Onan was the second son of Judah and the younger brother
of Er. Er was married to Tamar. Tamar eventually had a son, Perez who was the
ancestor of David (a.s.).

Genesis 38:8-10

8 Judah,
therefore, said to Onan, his son, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her,
that you may raise seed to your brother.”
9 He, knowing, that the children should not be his, when he
went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest
children should be born in his brother’s name.
10 And, therefore, the Lord Slew him, because he did a
detestable thing:

“Judah”,
the Qur’anic “Yahudh”, means “Give praise to God” in ancient Hebrew. This was the same Judah (r.a.) who
sold his brother Joseph (a.s.) into slavery. “Onan” means “the virile one”. “Er” is a pun since, in Hebrew, spelt
backward, is their word for “evil”. “Tamar”
means “date palm”.

Er
was somehow unable to do his duty and get Tamar pregnant. In any case, he died and left Tamar a young
widow. In that sort of tribal system,
she had little standing being childless and a widow. Under the ancient Levite law, she was
inherited by her brother-in-law, Onan.
It was Onan’s duty to get Tamar pregnant, the nafqah al-bathin. However,
any child beget would be considered Er’s progeny. Said child would inherit from Er’s legacy and
also be a challenge to Onan’s children from his other wives. Onan, being mindful of this, fulfilled the
letter of the Law, but not the spirit.
He entered Tamar but always practiced coitus interruptus. He “spilled
his seed” in the Biblical parlance. Thus,
he earned God’s Wrath and was killed for his hypocrisy.

Since
then, despite the fact that “Onan” means “virile one”, and was associated with
virility in ancient Hebrew, it has entered the English language as “onanism”,
which means the practise of masturbation or coitus
interruptus, depending on the context.
It has since acquired the association of impotence in modern
English. “Onan” is, therefore, “impotent”.

How
appropriate an allegory of the Muslim Converts’ Association of Singapore at
Onan Road, an impotent organisation led by impotent leadership.